Shedding mechanism for circular looms



July 23, 1935. J. JABOULEY SHEDDING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Jan. 12, 1934 Patented July 23, 1935 2,008,913 SHEDDING MECHANISMFOR CIRCULAR Joanny Jabouley, Spondon, near Derby, England,

assignor to Celanese Corporation ofAmerica, acorporation of Delaware Application January 12, 1934, Serial No. 706,320 7 g In Great Britain January 24, 1933 I v 3 Claims. (01. 139- 16) This invention relates to shedding mechanism for circular looms, and in particular is concerned with the method of shedding in which a warp thread is deflected'out of its normal line n at one point in its length and'controlled at another point to determine whether this deflecshall beefiective' to permit the thread to be moved to one side of the shuttle, or inefiective to retain the thread on the other side of the shuttle. I Such further means may comprise a reed through the dents of which some of the warp threads pass while the other warp threads pass through holes in the dents; Thus, for example, for plain weaving every alternate thread is free to move between reed dents, while the remaining threads are controlled by the holes in the dents, so that on sideways pressure the threads passing between pairs of dents are deflected to one side, while those passing through the'holes are retained, the threads thus being divided into two sheets, between which the weft inserting means can pass.

- According to the present invention the'deflection of the threads is effected by means of rotatable wheels whose edges are covered with fabric, felt, or the like so that when the warp threads are engaged by the wheels projecting beyond the normal line of the warps, they are carried evenly round the periphery of the wheels, the covering resisting the tendency of the threads to slip along the edges of the wheels. The fabric or-like covering thus avoids damage to the threads, a feature which is particularly important in the case of relatively weak warp material, and especially of continuous filament threads'where there is a danger of individual filaments being broken.

The edges of the wheels are preferably broad so as to engage a substantial length of the threads, and also curved, so that the warps are not sharply bent at the wheels on deflection, but pass smoothly from the warp supply to the fabric.

The invention will now be described in-greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section showing the shedding wheel in operation;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of part of a circular loom showing the shedding wheels in connection with two consecutive shuttles;

Fig. 3 is a part sectional view of the shedding wheel to a larger scale; and

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are further vertical sections showing the shedding wheels in operation.

Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6 correspond to views taken on the lines 1-4, 4-4, 5-5 and 6--6 of the diagrammatic Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1, the warp threads 'I- are shown proceeding downwardly from awarp sup ply (not shown) through spacing means 8'to a reed 9 whose dents are provided with eyes I0 alternate threads being passed through said eyes and the remaining threads between the dents. Below the reed 9 the warps proceed downwardly to the levelof a ring ll, fabri c l2 formedby' the insertion of weft between the reed 9 and the ring I l passing over the face of the ring down to takeup means (not shown). By the reason of the threading of the warp threads alternately between the dents of the reed 9 and through the eyes lfl in the dents, every other thread is constrainedby the reed to follow a substantially direct path from the eye ID to the ring ll.

The shuttles l3 are the loom, as shown in Fig. '2, and in advance of disposed in sequence round each shuttle there is disposed a shedding wheel .l4'pivotally mounted on "a suitable support '15.

The shedding wheels, which are preferably made of wood or other like material, are of considerable depth and smoothly curved at their periphery, as is clearly seen by reference to Fig. 3. The periphery, moreover, is covered with a layer of soft fabric I6.

The supports [5 for the shedding wheels M are 'so disposed as to project the periphery of each wheel beyond the line I! followed by the warps in proceeding directly from the spacing means 8 to the reed 9. At alternate shuttles the wheels l4 project into the warps from opposite sides of the warp circle, as is shown in Fig. 2. Because of the pushing of the warps 1 above the reed 9 out of the circle I1, the alternate warps 1.1:, which pass between the dents of the reed, follow a direct line from the periphery of the wheels M to the upper edge of the ring l2, whereas the alternate warps 1y, which are constrained by'the eyes l0, must retain their original direct path from the reed 9 to the ring II. Thealternate warps thus form two sheets, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1, the spacing between the sheets being suflicient to permit the entry of the nose l8 of the shuttle I3 which, as shown in Fig. 2, is so disposed with respect to the wheel I4 that it encounters the warps while they are held separated by the wheel.

It being understood that there is relative angular movement between the shuttles l3 and the warps I, for example the shuttles I3 rotating while the warps I are held stationary, or the warps rotating while the shuttles are held stationary, as described in U. S. application S. No.

Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 shows such shuttle passing between the two sheets of warps. The shuttle is held in vertical position by the vane wheel and.

roller mechanism shown in Fig. 4, this being similar to that described in U. S. application S. No. 706,322 filed on even date herewith, the outer sheet of warps 1x passing between the vanes of the wheel 20 and the inner sheet of warps passing between the roller 2| carried by the shuttle and the race 22 over which the roller 2| rolls.

Fig. 5 shows the warps I being pressed inwardly above the reed 9 by the shedding wheel I 4, as shown at the left-hand side of Fig. 2, the warps 1a: then lying below the reed on the inside of the normal Warp line H. In Fig. 6 the shuttle I3 is shown having entered the shed formed as described with reference to Fig. 5, the alternate warps 11 passing to the outside of the shuttle through the vanes of the wheel 20, and the warps Ia: passing to the inside of the shuttlebetween the roller 2| and the race 22.

It will be understood that a similar disposition of shedding wheels and shuttles to that shown in Fig. 2 is followed round the whole loom periphery, the shedding wheels being disposed alternately inside and outside the warp circle at every other shuttle I3 so that as soon as the warps kc have been pushed to one side of the warps lg to form a shed for one shuttle, they are then pushed to the other side of the warps lg to form an opposite shed for a succeeding shuttle.

The wheels I I are freely mounted so as to be easily rotated by their engagement with the warps, and the fabric covering [6 of the wheels l4 engages the warps firmly and holds them in evenly spaced relationship while pushing them to one side of their normal line. The covering thus avoids damage to the threads, especially in view of the relatively large length of the threads engaged by the ring (see Fig. 3), this being due to the considerable breadth of the edges of the rings. The smooth curvature of the-edges enables the warps to be deflected without sharp bending.

The warps may be threaded otherwise than alternately through the eyes In and between the dents 9. For example, two or more can be passed through any eye or between any pair of dents in accordance with the pattern desired.

The wheels according to the invention may be used with other devices operating to make a selection among the deflected warp threads. For example, the wheels may be used with healds governed by selector mechanism, as described in U. S. application S. No. 706,319 filed on even date herewith,.according to which some threads are freed from movement under the force imparted by the deflection, while others are restrained from such movement, the selection of the healds being in accordance with the pattern desired.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 7 I

1. In circular loom shedding mechanism of the type described, a rotatable warp-engaging shedding wheel, said wheel having its edge covered with material adapted to-resist slipping, of the threads, along the edge.

2. In circular loom shedding mechanism of the type described, a rotatable warp-engaging shedding wheel, said wheel having a broad edge to engage a substantial length of the threads and afabric covering for said edge to resist slipping of the threads along the edge.

3. A shedding wheel according to claim 1 having a curved edge to avoid sharp bending of the threads.

JOANNY JABOULEY. 

